We asked you: Should Florida repeal a constitutional ban on taxpayer aid for religious groups? YES: 22% NO: 78% 'Absolutely no' to funding Absolutely no to taxpayers' funding religion. There are certain religions that are weird to me. The problem is if one religion gets money and another doesn't, then there's a kind of government-sanctioned religion. Our Constitution states there must be a separation of church and government. - flyladee (from OrlandoSentinel.com)

With political correctness reigning, it's not difficult to find a cast of players fretting upon the stage of the theater of the absurd. Late last month, the curtain rose at Rollins College. School officials last fall had informed InterVarsity Christian Fellowship that Rollins would "de-recognize" the group. The reason: InterVarsity had violated Rollins' anti-discrimination policy. Bravo to Rollins for standing up to bigots who bar minorities. Wait. InterVarsity didn't do that.

An effort by Republicans in the Florida Legislature to end a century-old state ban on public aid to religious institutions was challenged in court today by Florida's teachers union and several religious and civic leaders. The Legislature approved a ballot measure this spring that will ask voters to repeal a provision in the state constitution that forbids giving taxpayer money to religious groups. The issue is scheduled for the November 2012 ballot. But the Florida Education Association and others said voters should not see the "misleading" amendment proposal, which they call a "shady" attempt to make it easier to funnel taxpayers' money to private, religious schools through vouchers.

Rollins College has kicked a religious student group off campus for requiring its student leaders to be Christian and promote certain conservative beliefs - a violation of the private school's anti-discrimination policy. Organizers with the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship learned last fall that Rollins planned to "de-recognize" it, or strip away its funding and rights to recruit on campus, reserve meeting space and claim any affiliation with the small liberal-arts college in Winter Park.

On Judgment Day, Jesus said, those who are saved will be those who fed the hungry, clothed the naked and welcomed the stranger. Churches and other religious bodies always have made humanitarian activities a central part of their mission. But if a lawsuit now before the Supreme Court succeeds, the federal government will be forced to exclude such groups from its efforts to ameliorate social problems.Until this century, these tasks fell to private charity administered largely by churches and synagogues.

Representatives of 10 Protestant, Jewish and Roman Catholic agencies Friday called a proposed constitutional amendment to return state-sponsored prayer to public schools a ''serious threat'' to the nation's religious heritage.In a letter to members of the Senate, the spokesmen urged defeat of the ''unwise and dangerous'' school prayer amendment sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.The amendment would allow schools to permit periods of time for silent prayer and reflection for groups of students.

The government violated the First Amendment rights of church groups when it infiltrated and tape-recorded religious gatherings in secret, a federal judge ruled. The government ''does not have unfettered discretion to conduct investigations and law enforcement activities,'' U.S. District Judge Roger Strand ruled. Four Arizona churches and two national denominations sued the federal government in 1986 over use of paid informers by the Immigration and Naturalization Service to secretly tape-record services in 1984.

Two religious groups testifying on a proposed bill that would remove nearly all restrictions to acquiring abortions in the United States have given the House Judiciary Committee a clear look at just how divisive the issue can be.Helen Alvare, representing the nation's Roman Catholic bishops, said the proposal ''rides roughshod'' over the public opinion on abortion, ''trivializes the human rights question at the heart of the abortion issue'' and gives ''a...

Relaxed rules were made permanent this week for religious groups and others to distribute information and solicit donations at Orlando International Airport.The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority revised the rules after an Orlando couple sued, saying their First Amendment rights had been violated in April when they sought to pass out Gospel tracts on Good Friday.The couple contended an airport requirement that they obtain $100,000 in liability insurance and wear badges with their names and address on them was too strict.

Church officials and other religious-based groups are gearing up to fight an order by the Obama administration that they include birth control in employee health plans — a requirement some say could threaten the protection of other moral beliefs and practices. "Most civilized nations have allowed deeply held convictions by religious groups in these areas to be respected. I don't know why our president is not doing so after speaking [Tuesday] night so wonderfully about compromise and all of us working together and joining together," Cardinal-designate Edwin F. O'Brien , leader of the Baltimore archdiocese since 2007, said Wednesday.

A Boy Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. Can he also be gay? Earlier this month, the Boy Scouts' national executive board signaled it would finally settle the contentious question. It would rule on a proposal to allow local troop sponsors to decide whether to allow gays in the ranks. Instead, the board tossed the hot potato to the 1,400-member National Council. It meets in May. Pressure has squeezed the Boy Scouts of America from all sides.

Free Internet for kids While I fundamentally agree with Art Thomas' letter to the editor Thursday on Internet access for kids, this idea could go the way of most well-intentioned programs. We eventually have to ask the question: When is enough enough? Let's play out his scenario. First comes a free Internet connection. That doesn't help someone who doesn't have a computer, so next come free computers. That doesn't help someone who needs to print schoolwork, so next come free printers.

TALLAHASSEE — One commercial depicts a Gov. Rick Scott look-alike walking into an exam room and wrestling a woman patient's chart away from the doctor. "Have you noticed how politicians keep trying to play doctor, trying to get their political agenda into your doctor's office?" the narrator says. Another features a doctor warning that Amendment 6 would limit the medical options she could present to pregnant women diagnosed with cancer or major fetal abnormalities.

Last week we started working through the passel of convoluted amendments on your ballot this year — breaking down the legalese and political mumbo-jumbo into plain English. Today we finish them up. The Legislature wrote them. I'll translate them. You decide how to vote. Amendment 6. Abortion . The main thing this amendment tries to do is waive a woman's right to privacy with regard to abortion. Republican legislators want more hurdles to abortions. But the state constitution's privacy protections have made that difficult.

Dead almost 120 years, James Blaine — the GOP presidential candidate in 1884 — is making an appearance in Florida's 2012 election. When voters go to the polls in November, they will be asked if they want to delete the so-called Blaine Amendment from Florida's constitution. Also called the "no aid provision," it prohibits state aid to religious institutions. The push to alter what has been in Florida's Constitution since 1885 has ignited a complicated, hot-button debate.

WASHINGTON -- The nation's atheists went to Capitol Hill on Monday to launch an effort that they hope will someday give them the lobbying clout of the Christian conservative movement. They don't have a prayer. But that obvious fact won't stop them from exercising their God-given right to petition their government for a redress of grievances. And their grievances are many, including: -- The "In God We Trust" national motto. -- The National Day of Prayer. -- The phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.

COLOGNE, Germany - Wealthy industrial countries reached agreement Friday on a plan to offer as much as $100 billion in debt relief to 33 of the world's poorest countries. President Clinton called the action a ``historic step,'' but religious groups that have pushed the rich nations to be more generous complained that the initiative fell far short of what is needed to relieve a crushing burden of debt on the world's most destitute. The world's seven richest countries approved the measure at the start of their 25th annual economic summit.

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Catholic and other religious social-service groups must provide contraceptive coverage through their workplace-sponsored medical-insurance programs, even if they consider contraception to be a sin, according to Thursday's ruling by the state's highest court. The 6-0 decision by the Court of Appeals hinged on defining Catholic Charities and the other nine religious groups suing the state as social-service agencies, rather than operating only as churches.

Catholic Bishop John Noonan on Monday urged local Catholics to support a controversial measure on the November ballot that would delete the "no aid" provision of Florida's constitution that prevents state support of religious institutions. Noonan, of the Diocese of Orlando , urged Catholics to vote "yes" while speaking at a "faithful citizenship" meeting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Altamonte Springs . In November, Florida voters will be asked whether they want to delete that section of the state constitution and add a sentence that says the government cannot deny funding on the basis of religious beliefs.

TALLAHASSEE — With Catholic organizations from around the state raising money to promote passage of an anti- abortion constitutional amendment in November, a coalition of religious groups is decrying the measure as a state imposition of religious dogma. Amendment 6 would restrict public dollars from funding abortions or health insurance that covers abortions, except in areas covered by federal law. It also overrides Florida court decisions that have upheld broader privacy rights than the U.S. Constitution affords.